Going Rogue with Malice
by Kenne Morrison1
Summary: An alternate universe XMen story. Malice of the Mauraders has possessed Rogue. What evil plans does she have in store? Who's pulling her strings? How does this affect Rogue's future? Believe me when I say the lives of the XMen will be changed forever.


**Going Rogue with Malice**  
**by Kenne Morrison**

**Part One: Malicious Design**

**Disclaimer**: All recognizable characters and institutions are the property of Marvel Comics or their creators. Used without permission for entertainment purposes only. Not for profit.

**Dedication:** To Brandy, you will never be forgotten.

**Acknowledgments:** Thank you go out to my family who never stifled my dreams, to my friends who encouraged those dreams, and to the Comic Book Review gang for helping me see that my dreams weren't dead, just lying dormant.

**Notes:** I'll be taking extreme creative liscenses with this story. There are some things that I was unclear on, so I decided to just write my story the way I wanted to. If it's wrong, then I apologize.

Chapter One

The shadows moved as a hand caressed the monitor. In the monitor was a tape of a woman sleeping, tossing to and fro fitfully. Her brown hair splayed away from her face completely covering up the white in her hair, but the figure knew it was there. How many nights had he watched as she slept? How many days had he planned for this exact moment?

Pushing himself away from the monitor but keeping to the shadows, the figure crossed to a console lit by a tiny desk lamp. On the console rested a choker with a cameo in the middle. Fingering the choker lovingly, he placed it in the device next to the console and turned it on. There was a humming noise followed by a series of bursts of light. When it was done, he pulled out an emerald necklace.

"Ah, yes, my lovely. They'll never suspect anything now that you look like this. Time to put the plan into motion."

Placing the emerald necklace into a box, the shadowed figure drew out an address label addressed to the following:

Ms. Anna Darkholme  
1675 Winchester Lane  
Salem Center, NY 12823

Satisfied with his work, the figure places the package on the desk. An assistant will see that it gets mailed in the morning. Turning back to the monitor, the shadowed man caresses the monitor showing a sleeping Rogue.

"Soon, my dear, your life will be destroyed. Soon, you'll be right where I want you."

"Henry Rockefeller McCoy, don't you DARE jump into this pool and splash me," Emma Frost flashed her piercing blue eyes at the blue-furred Beast as he prepared to launch himself off the diving board. For a second, he looked like he was going to back down, then with a mischievous smile, he sprinted down the length of the board, performed a full somersault in the air and then landed with a big splash less than a feet from Emma's floating water chair. Water drenched her from head to toe, and she shrieked as she glared at him.

"I ought to fry your brains!" She shrieked as she her skin turned into diamond.

"Oh, please, not that, my brains are all I have," he replied playfully.

"I swear, if I didn't love you so much, I'd reduce your brain to mush and leave you a mindless idiot," Emma said as she wiped water off her face and squeezed her hair dry. Then she smiled as Hank waded back into the pool and over to her. Placing her hand on his cheek, she leaned over and gave him a long kiss. "Besides, I get rather turned on by that big brain of yours."

"Verily, my profound intellect was the impetus that brought our love out, no?" Beast replied in his verbose way.

"If you're trying to say that it was your intellect that made me fall in love with you, then I will have to say, yes, it was." she said as she brought him closer for a longer, more passionate kiss. She became so involved with the kiss that she didn't even mind as she fell out of her chair into the water. Hank merely cupped her close to him as she wrapped her legs around his body.

"Don't those too have any sense of decency?" Rogue complained as she stared out the window at Emma and Hank's intimate moment in the pool. When Storm had suggested that the X-Men needed some time away from the school, Rogue had thought it was a great idea, until she realized that it was a couples retreat. Hank had Emma, Kitty and Peter had rekindled their romance, even Ororo had finally given in to her attraction for a fellow X-Man. The two of them had taken off for a day of sightseeing. With Hank and Emma by the pool, Peter and Kitty upstairs playing Chess, Rogue and Remy were the only ones left with nothing to do.

"Careful, Chere, or else Remy might suspect that you're jealous of them." Remy cajoled as he shuffled a deck of cards. As was his trademark, Remy never went anywhere without a deck or two of cards. They weren't only for playing cards, they were nice instruments for him to use his mutant power on. But, Storm promised them that they were in a remote enough location that his only use for the cards this weekend would be Texas Hold 'Em.

"Please! Ah don't know what you're talking about. Ah'm not jealous of Emma because frankly ah don't want to be shaking blue fur out of MAH sheets. And ah'm certainly not jealous of Hank because you know ah ain't into women. So you can just get THAT fantasy out of your head mighty quick."

"Dat's not what I'm talkin' about." Gambit replied, then sighed as he looked at Rogue's indignant expression as if daring him to start another fight, "Just forget I said anything, non?"

"Sweetie, if this is about mah unable to be intimate," she replied softly as she walked over to him. Once she stood before him, she leaned up and stroked his cheek with a gloved hand, "We both know it's not mah fault ah cain't touch bare skin. Ah don't want to hurt you."

"Dat's just it, Chere," Gambit responded as he gently pulled Rogue's hand into his own, "We don't know why you can't control your powers. Until you can, we can't be intimate. Doesn't that ever bother you?"

"You know it does," Rogue pouted as she stepped away from him rubbing her arm with a gloved hand. Even when it was her own skin, she was reluctant to touch it. Though Xavier promised her that she can't hurt herself, she hesitates to touch her own skin because she knows it'll just be too painful to know what it feels like to touch skin but be unable to touch the skin of someone she loves. After a few minutes of being lost in her own thoughts, she became aware again that Remy was staring at her. "Ah'd better see to the dishes."

Gambit made a move as if to say he'd come help her, but she put up her hand in a gesture that informed him that she needed some time alone. In echo of her previous thoughts, he wondered just what it was that prompted Ororo to invite the two of them along on a couple's retreat. Surely she wasn't trying to rub it into their faces that they were the only couple in the mansion, perhaps the world who were so in love yet totally incapable of being physically intimate.

Two days later, the four couples returned to the mansion. Nothing big had happened while they were gone, so the staff was eager to hear how things went. Dani, Rahne and Amara cornered Kitty after dinner to find out if she and Peter had gone all the way yet. Stacy and Jean-Paul kept asking Emma if Hank was shedding yet, and Lorna and Alex were trying to find out from Storm's beau if she slept in the nude or not. Such was the trouble when you had a group of people who were so close. Nothing stayed totally personal for very long.

"Oh, by the way, Anna, this package came for you," Lorna informed Rogue when she finally saw her later that night, "I thought you told us that Anna was only a psuedonym you use. Who could be sending you a package?"

"Gee, Lorna. I don't know considering that there's not a return address. Not that it's any of YOUR business anyways." Rogue retorted as she walked away. Once she was out of sight, she looked at the handwriting. It could be from her stepmother. Mystique always had a different handwriting depending on whoever she was impersonating. That was the beauty of her powers. Not only could she assume the appearance of a person, she mimicked them down to their handwriting, vocal resonance and fingerprints. Not even retinal scans could determine who was the real person and Mystique.

Shaking with anticipation, she opened the box convinced it was from Mystique. It was her stepmother who gave her the alias of Anna Darkholme after all. As soon as she opened it, she gasped. The emerald necklace was beautiful which only confirmed for Rogue that it had really come from Mystique. Only a few people were aware that she liked Emeralds after all. As soon as she had the clasp closed, she turned to look at a hall mirror. Suddenly a cloud of mist surrounded her head causing her to cough. She began to have trouble breathing, and as she collapsed to her feet, she took a deep breath. AS she took her breath, the mist entered her mouth. She coughed once more, and when she stood up again, she looked in the mirror and smiled. Malice had found a new home at last.


End file.
